LINCOLN, NE – Michael Tamburino’s 6.1 no-hit innings helped the Lincoln Saltdogs to their first win of the season and now the right-hander is earning the American Association’s first award of the season. The league and the Saltdogs jointly announced today that Tamburino is 2018’s first Pointstreak Pitcher of the Week.
The New York-native tossed a masterpiece in Lincoln’s 4-3 win over the Sioux City Explorers on Sunday afternoon. He pitched 6.1 innings and didn’t allow a run or a hit while striking out four batters.
Tamburino retired every batter he faced in the first six innings. Luis Durango ended his perfect game bid by drawing a five-pitch walk to start the seventh. Two batters later, Tamburino walked Jay Austin to put two runners on with cleanup hitter Nate Samson coming to the plate. With just a four-run lead, Manager Bobby Brown elected to summon reliever Jose Jose from the bullpen to get out of the inning.
Tamburino’s gem was one of the most dominant Saltdogs pitching outings in recent memory. Seth Webster sent down the first 17 batters (one less than Tamburino) he faced in a win at Fargo-Moorhead on June 14, 2017. Jarrett Gardner threw the only no-hitter in franchise history on June 25, 2009 against El Paso. No American Association pitcher has ever thrown a perfect game.
The last Saltdogs hurler to earn Pitcher of the Week honors was Derek Gordon on July 10, 2017.
The Saltdogs host the Wichita Wingnuts for a three-game set starting on Tuesday at 6:45 PM at Haymarket Park. Tamburino is next scheduled to pitch on Friday, May 25th at Fargo-Moorhead.
For more information on the Saltdogs, follow the team on Facebook and Twitter/Instagram @saltdogsball. For ticket information visit https://saltdogs.com/tickets/ or call (402) 474-2255.